Now that the two major political parties have begun holding primaries to select their nominees for this fall’s presidential elections, Armenian Americans are weighing the merits of the eight remaining candidates.
I would like to propose that from now on Armenians refrain from asking presidential candidates whether they would recognize the Armenian Genocide once elected. There are two problems in posing such a question:
1) Armenians should know from previous disappointing experiences that they cannot trust promises made by most politicians.
2) There is no need to ask for such a promise since the Armenian Genocide has been repeatedly recognized by the various branches of the U.S. government for many years:
a) Document submitted by the U.S. government to the World Court in 1951
b) Resolutions adopted by the House of Representatives in 1975 and 1984
c) President Ronald Reagan’s Proclamation referring to the Armenian Genocide on April 22, 1981
Furthermore, the continued pursuit of genocide recognition—when it has been already recognized—would simply undermine its acknowledgment and cast doubt on it veracity.
Instead, Armenian Americans should ask presidential candidates for their positions on more pressing issues such as:
1) Allocating more foreign aid to Armenia and Artsakh (Karabagh)
2) Promoting U.S. trade with Armenia
3) Pressuring Turkey to lift its blockade of Armenia
4) Demanding that Turkey return the confiscated Armenian churches to the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul
5) Condemning Azerbaijan for its repeated threats and attacks on Armenia and Artsakh
6) Supporting the independence of Artsakh
Once elected, officials would want to satisfy some of these demands in order to maintain the support of the Armenian community during their future campaign for reelection.
Here are the records of all six Republican presidential candidates on Armenian issues:
Governor Jeb Bush (Florida)
– Traveled with his son on a humanitarian mission to Armenia on Dec. 24, 1988, shortly after the earthquake
– Issued an Armenian Genocide Proclamation on April 7, 2006
– Received the Friend of Armenians Award in 2013 from the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church
Governor John Kasich (Ohio)
– Received ratings of C, D, and F from the ANCA during most of his tenure in the House of Representatives, 1983-2001
– Co-signed letters to President Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev supporting Artsakh’s independence in 1991
– Co-sponsored the Armenian Genocide Resolution in 2000
– As governor, issued a proclamation in 2012 to celebrate Armenian Independence Day
Senator Ted Cruz (Texas)
– Received a C- rating from ANCA in 2014
– In 2015, issued statement on the Armenian Genocide and co-sponsored the Armenian Genocide Resolution
Senator Marco Rubio (Florida)
– Received a C rating in 2012 and B in 2014 from the ANCA
– Voted for passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2014
– Co-sponsored the Armenian Genocide Resolution in 2015
– Co-signed letter to President Barack Obama urging him to recognize the Armenian Genocide in 2015
Neurosurgeon Ben Carson (Michigan): No statements on Armenian issues.
Businessman Donald Trump (New York): No statements on Armenian issues.
Here are the records of the two Democratic presidential candidates on Armenian issues:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (New York)
– As Senator, co-signed letters to President Bush urging him to recognize the Armenian Genocide in 2005 and 2006
– Co-sponsored resolutions on the Armenian Genocide in 2006 and 2007
– As presidential candidate in 2008, made a promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide
– Later in 2008, spoke at a Turkish Cultural Center banquet in New York City in the presence of then-Prime Minister Erdogan
– During an official visit to Yerevan in 2010, placed a wreath at the Genocide Monument, which the U.S. Embassy in Armenia called a “private” act, even though the ribbon on the wreath carried the inscription: “From Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton”
– In 2012, as secretary of state, referred to the Armenian Genocide as “a matter of historical debate,” contradicting her earlier clear stand on this important issue
Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)
– Received an A+ rating in 2012 and a C in 2014 from the ANCA
– During his tenure in the House of Representatives (1991-2007), he supported a variety of Armenian issues, including the Armenian Genocide Resolution, in 1996, 1997, and 2000
– Co-signed letters to President Bush urging him to recognize the Armenian Genocide in 2002, 2003, and 2004
– As Senator, co-sponsored in 2012 two resolutions on the Armenian Genocide and the return of Armenian Churches by Turkey
The polls and results of the early primary elections indicate that no candidate in either party is likely to have an overwhelming majority in the primaries and the November elections, which would encourage the candidates to be more accommodating to all voters, including Armenian Americans.
Under these circumstances, my suggestion to the Armenian-American community is to refrain from making an early commitment to any candidate. The decision as to whom to support can be made later as the presidential race gets tighter and the candidates get more desperate for votes!
Harut Sassounian
Take the ANCA Presidential Preference Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2016WhiteHouse
HOW ABOUT WE TAKE ALL THEIR CAMPAIGN PROMISES AND MAKE THEM PUT IT IN WRITING THIS TIME? LIKE A CONTRACT? I WOULDN’T HOLD MY BREATH. Armenian UNITY IS THE ANSWER MR. SASSOUNIAN. ONE ARMENIA:ARMENIA -KARABAGH-DIASPORA. IM TIRED OF OUR ‘SALVATION’ NEEDING TO COME THROUGH SOMEONE OR SOMETHING ELSE. GOD BLESS THE ARMENIAN ARMY AND OUR PEOPLE.
Lest we forget, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rewrote the Armenia/Turkish protocols to set up a study committee over past grievances. Are you kidding me? Armenia is being played!
*** Thank you, I will refrain from making an early commitment to any candidate.
This is a very wise recommendation, It makes no sense to push something that they can not deliver.
But the list of 6 Items listed above are more realistic goals that we need to ask and obtain.
Also we need to present our case to the media and make use of the Social media… In Tennessee where I live 99.9 % of the people have no Idea who the Armenians are.. the same is true outside CA and some NE states were there are few concentration of Armenians…
IF we,Armenians, had any NATIONAL political influence this article would make sense. Let us recognize the fact that we are unable to articulate and implement a coherent political narrative and approach that can bring either the Republican Party or Democratic Party or both to pay attention to our vote and interests .Whatever happens at local congressional districts is just local no matter how good intentioned our local representatives are.There are a lot of Armenian scribes who write things not related to reality.
This was comical. Thanks Harut, I’ll make sure to take YOUR advice on who I should and should not vote for. After all, you are the expert.
Thank you for the summary. It may be equally helpful to also know how much each candidate has supported Turkish/Azeri issues.
Wake up from your deep sleep, folks. Armenians have absolutely no power in Washington; never have, never will. More importantly, America has never been a real democracy.
The US is an elite based two party political system overseen by a handful of special interest groups. The political system in question is like a two ring circus managed by ringmasters (i.e. special interests) the audience does not get to see. Presidential candidates from both sides of the political fence will therefore have no choice but to serve the imperial elite once they get into the White House. Presidential elections in the US has therefore evolved to become a contest between two groups of well funded, well connected people competing for the empire’s control panels.
Think of it this way: Every four years the imperial elite in the US decide what shirt the American sheeple will wear, and the sheeple are then given the “democratic” choice of picking between two colors.
Moreover, we must dispel the false notion that the US reached its pinnacle as a result of “democracy”. The US became a wealthy world power as a result of: Mass scale enslavement of millions of blacks; systematic extermination of millions of native Americans; global wars for plunder; and total control over global trade and commodities. Protected by oceans, the finical/political elite in the US took nearly two hundreds years to grow the country to what it is today. It was only after Second World War that some of the accrued wealth basically trickled down to the masses.
Nevertheless, entrusting a nation’s politics to the whims of its ignorant masses is the fastest way to societal decay and eventual destruction. This is exactly the reason why Western powers have been imposing “democracy” on nations targeted with either destruction or occupation. Iraq, Syria, Libya and Ukraine are good examples of what I am talking about.
That said, I am a Donald Trump fan. At least he is entertaining, at least his geopolitical stance regarding the Middle East and Russia is rational. But, I am under no illusions. If/when Trump becomes president, his political stance will have to change because, as I said, US presidents do not make political policy.
According to different estimates and reports, the Americans of Armenian descent in the USA are from 500,000 to 1 million, with largest concentrations in California and Masachusetts. On the National election scene, this is a very small number to have an influence on the elections results or weigh heavily on a candidate’s electability. It is wishful thinking.
We have to be realistic and pragmatic.
Individually, we cannot do anything meaningful. The organization who is doing a formidable job, and achieving tangible results is the ANCA.
Rather than punditry, and wishful thinking, the only organization that is pursuing the 6 points listed by Mr. Sassounian is the ANCA.
Support the ANCA, visit their web site, make a contribution, be involved in their calls for action. The ANCA with their offices in Washington D.C. and Eastern and Western Regional offices, is well tuned, experienced and prepared to pursue these issues. What they lack is the funding needed to fight the money flow to thw lobbyists who do not support the Armenian/NKR causes.
Vart Adjemian
{Now that the two major political parties have begun holding primaries to select their nominees for presidential elections, Armenian Americans are weighing the merits of the eight candidates.}
Ugh… What difference does it make who is elected president in the US and what impact—if any at all—the elected president can have on Armenian American issues?
After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, America and her presidential power ceased to exist, and the country essentially became a cluster of interests of transnational corporations and the so-called “internationalist power elites.” One exclusively American power elite group, which the Washington Post has called “the nearest thing we have to a ruling establishment in the United States,” is the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Several hundred of its members are current and former US government officials. Indeed, all of the two main parties’ US presidential candidates, with rare exceptions, were members of the CFR. According to Carroll Quigley, a distinguished professor at the Georgetown University, whom President Bill Clinton praised as his mentor (clearly not a ‘conspiracist’ scholar, as some small minds here attempt to misrepresent), the CFR is a bastion of policy continuums in US government, irrespective of which party (and its candidate) was in office. The purpose of the CFR, Quigley wrote in “Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in our Time”, was that “the two parties [and their candidates] should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.”
Wake up to reality, people…
Harut,
The timing of your proposal now, in this article dated February 16, 2016, to Armenians to “refrain from asking presidential candidates whether they would recognize the Armenian Genocide once elected” is laughable. Brother, you are at least 40 YEARS late with your sage advice.
You stated that “Furthermore, the continued pursuit of genocide recognition—when it has been already recognized—would simply undermine its acknowledgment and cast doubt on it veracity.”
“DUH!”